Monday, March 31, 2025

Welcome to TC PM! Today we are looking into AI news, including more models and new AI agent subscriptions; we learn of multiple cybersecurity incidents; and we meet the woman who voices your Bluetooth speaker. Press play!

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Industry Stages. M. Reinertson/The Photo Group

🎬 More models: AI startup Runway released a new video-generating model, Gen-4, to add to its suite of AI video tools. Kyle Wiggers notes that while there is a lot of competition in the video-generating space, Runway has differentiated itself by inking deals with Hollywood studios.

🤑 Pay up: Manus AI, the viral AI agent platform out of China, has launched two subscription plans that start at $39 a month. These subscriptions are priced by the number of credits offered and how many tasks the AI agents can run simultaneously.

📀 New features: Media software maker and streaming app Plex has launched an updated version of its mobile app. The updates include a new user experience, like a reorganized navigation that includes giving its Watchlist a dedicated spot.

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

🤨 Are you sure about that? ByteDance's extended Saturday deadline to divest from TikTok is quickly approaching. While anecdotally it seems unlikely that a deal will get done by then, Donald Trump said that a deal will in fact be done by the deadline. I'll believe it when I see it.

🤺 Uh-oh, the EVs are fighting: EV truck maker Harbinger has filed an objection regarding the sale of Canoo's assets to its CEO as part of the latter's bankruptcy proceedings. Harbinger is accusing Canoo of hiding certain assets in the sales process. Spicy!

😬 Oops! API testing firm APIsec confirmed that it secured an exposed internal database filled with customer data that had been connected to the internet with no password. Security research firm UpGuard spotted the exposed database back on March 5.

🕶️ Speaking of security incidents: Tech giant Oracle is coming under fire for how it has handled two recent security breaches. The two incidents in question involve Oracle Health and Oracle Cloud. In both incidents, it seems Oracle was purposefully opaque on what happened.

🍎 AI for Apple Vision Pro: Apple announced today that it is rolling out visionOS 2.4, which will bring Apple Intelligence-powered features to Apple Vision Pro. This update also includes new spatial experiences and the Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone.

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Around the web

📦 Getting into Gel: Have you ever wondered why so many items come with a pack of silica gel beads in them? Even if you haven't, you can learn why that is the case and what these beads are and do to begin with. This may not be a tech story, but it is fascinating.

🙋‍♀️ The Bluetooth lady: Meet Kristen DiMercurio, the woman whose voice is behind your Bluetooth speaker. DiMercurio talked to Wired about how she got into this type of voice-over work and how it is all drying up now thanks to AI.

Before you go

Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Getty Images

🌝 Capacity chokehold: OpenAI's capacity struggles continue. This morning the company disabled video generation for new users of Sora, the company's suite of AI media tools. Sora users can still generate images, however.